Gunter Newgate
General Gunter Newgate was one of the most renowned and celebrated soldiers in Avalot's army. He was directly involved in Mary the Mute's rise to power in 655 AU and personally lead the attack against the Westwardens in the Ninth Barbarian Invasion. Newgate continued to be a paragon of a true soldier, even up until his death. Background In 600 AU, Newgate was born to the family of a failed knight, Jonathan Newgate, and his wife, Marissa Newgate. Unfortunately for Gunter, his mother died when he was three years old from sickness, so he raised by his father while growing up. Though Jonathan was a failed knight, he had much experience with blacksmithing and made a successful career using many of his old contacts from his days as a soldier. This eventually resulted in the family moving into Castle Dacre to provide repairs for the guardsmen of the palace in 606 AU. It was here that Gunter met the much older Alric Dacre, whom Gunter quickly befriended. Eventually, Gunter started to look up to Alric as a brother, and as he matured, he began to see the Prince in another light. History While they were children, Alric would often lead Gunter on adventures or crusades through the palace. Due to Gunter's timid nature, he'd often go along with whatever scheme Alric had planned for them. Sometime during this period, when Gunter was a teen, he confessed that he had fallen in love with Alric. The Prince did return the feelings, but he could not properly give Gunter the love he deserved due to Alric's duty to Avalot. This came to ahead during the Berman War in 625 AU when Alric had to spend all his time in the Court of Nobles, helping his father. In an effort to ease his friend's burden and prove himself as a man to his father, Gunter enlisted to the front-lines in the Baltic Hills. Thus began his long career as a foot soldier. Gunter made many friends while in service, being one of the older boys they all looked up to him. Unfortunately, being on the front-lines, he saw many of them perish in blazes of gunfire. Every day would be charges up the Berman infested mountains with no real progress and the death of many Avalotian soldiers, including Gunter's commanders. Gunter rose through the ranks only because so many people before him died in the attacks. He grew more depressed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and his hatred of Berma and King Juilus grew with each passing year. Amazingly, he survived the entire war when peace was declared in 630 AU. He returned to Avo as a war hero, forever changed by the events on the battlefield. He become dedicated to physical training, improving his body so that the next time war were to break out her would be prepared. Alric saw his friend's withdrawn attitude to the rest of the world and tried to break him out of it. At first, he promoted him to Captain of the Guard in Avo in an attempt to keep him closer and busy. It was also during this time that Newgate was given Lance Wymund to dispose of. When it was clear that the promotion wasn't going to work, in 640 AU, Alric gave Gunter his own bastard child to raise, Mary the Mute. In 650 AU, Newgate's father passed away. The Masquerade Throughout his long career as Guard Captain, Newgate experienced many tough cases. From a fire in an orphanage to dealing with pirates that crashed into Avo's harbor, Newgate remained vigilant as Captain. On the side, he would raise Mary, though his upbringing was strict and loveless. Often it was Alric who would teach Mary anything of real value to the girl while Newgate focused more on her physical training. Also during this time, Newgate became more familiar with the many nobles of the Court and generally was known for his strict behavior to the law, though he did managed to befriend Lance Wymund. In 655 AU, during a masquerade party, Gunter was helpless to save his friend Alric who had been assassinated. Furthermore, Mary was accused as the only suspect, tortured then arrested. With little other choice other than his duty to Alric, Newgate worked with Lance Wymund to free Mary and help her escape Avo. Unfortunately, upon Wymund's supposed death, Gunter was left only with Mary to determine who had been Alric's killer and prove Mary's heritage since his word alone wouldn't matter. Together, with the help of some of Wymund's old servants, they began to track down potential leads and garner support for Mary's claim. After causing a lot of trouble around Avo, and receiving serious injuries, Newgate was eventually captured by the visiting Emperor of Berma's, Juilus Narvineous, men. Gunter was tortured by the Emperor, now king of Avalot, for the Emperor's amusement. During this time, he had a vision of a cryptic old man who convinced him to change his lifestyle around. During the Emperor's own masquerade party, Gunter was released by none other than Rollin Hodgekin, who revealed himself as Alric's true murderer. The two men dueled with Rollin clearly having the upperhand, Newgate attempted to use the environment against the assassin. In the end, Gunter was saved by Lance Wymund, whom he still thought dead. After explaining his involvement in Alric's assassination, Wymund charged Newgate with protecting Mary and allowed him to escape Castle Dacre before he destroyed it. Newgate later helped with the restoration of Avo and became Mary's protector for the next three years. He had to rely on a cane from all the wounds he had sustained during the fiasco. Fracturing Following the destruction of Castle Dacre, Gunter helped Mary in her campaign to gain leadership in Avalot. While he began to physically decay, he made up for his growing weakness by exposing himself to subjects he wouldn't have before, particularly improving his mind and sharpening his wit. By the time Mary's second campaign rolled around, Newgate had become a more respected member of Court. All the while, he had been using the fortune Alric he left him in the King's will to continue to dig up information regarding Lance Wymund. Newgate was convinced the former Count had not plotted alone. Newgate continued to advise against Mary running for the second election, having a bad feeling about the whole debate after a mysterious letter had been found from one of his agents. Newgate expressed further concern at the sudden appearance of an ambassador from Pokol attempting to lure both Mary and Prime Minister Deshotel to the island nation. Unfortunately, his warnings fell on deaf ears and both rivals left for Pokol, leaving Newgate and Fredrick Ducan alone to hold the bickering Court together and deal with the impending Westward threat with the Ninth Barbarian Invasion just beginning. Gunter tried his best but was thwarted at every turn by the Pokol ambassador, later discovered to be Jop Carnell. This resulted in a brief war between the Pinelands and the Sea of Sands, as Newgate discovered Carnell to be an unwilling member of the Midnight Hands. Through sheer determination, Newgate attempted to end the war through the help of Argus Verze. They discovered the cause of the conflict lay with disease and succeeded in creating a cure with Ducan's help. Their plans failed and they discovered through Carnell that an impending attack on Avo was to occur. Newgate managed to rally the commoners of the city just in time to save the city, though he had to make big promises to do it. Upon Deshotel's safe return, the Prime Minister learned of all that had happened and offered Newgate the position of general in the army to meet the barbarian forces outside of Farqual. Gunter bitterly accepted the demands and left Mary in the capable hands of Arthur Mourne. The Sacrifice In the summer of 658 AU, Newgate set out to establish Avalot's forces in the west, whipping all the solders into shape in the Baltic Hills. He managed to hold the line against a force that was 10 times his army's size, building a stable fortress and surviving the winter of 659 AU. Unfortunately, the Westwardens could not be supplanted and eventually conquered Farqual, making their base of operations in Briggham. Gunter met with the leader of their horde, Hysaph Jaric, face to face after the barbarian had insisted on meeting with the general in a civil way. The two had a growing respect for each other that would carry over for the rest of the war. In the late winter of 659 AU, Jaric proved his cunning by outmaneuvering Newgate's army and making a beeline straight for Avo. The city was under siege for weeks, while Gunter attempted to break the line, losing many of his own men in the process. He aided on occasion by reinforcements from Mary's efforts in winning Avalot some allies, but he was never once able to end the barbarian siege. In the spring of 659 AU, Newgate was summoned to Anderfall to meet with the other leaders of the alliance to discuss the next course of action in the war. Gunter volunteered to aid Mary in infiltrating Briggham and securing more allies as well as destroying a cache of gunpowder stored there by the Midnight Hands. Despite taking a handful of troops with them, the mission was a disaster, resulting in many deaths and Arthur Mourne getting captured. The group was able to escape the city with Baron Van Cole's forces, but they were pursued by Westwarden savages. In an effort to save his friends and family, Newgate personally held the line with a keg of gunpowder. He killed himself in a blaze of glory but succeeded in stopping any pursuing barbarians from reaching the group. Legacy Newgate's death did shake Mary, but it also increased her resolve. His passing was even mourned by Jaric, who had seen the old soldier as a worthy rival. After the Ninth Barbarian Invasion, he was honored with a statue of himself placed outside Avo's barracks. He was buried next to his friend and lover Alric. Personality In his early life, Gunter was noticeably timid and easily led around. He always wanted to do the right thing and was often the voice of reason in a crowd. This carried over to the Berman War and allowed him to make friends easily. After the War, however, he had lost many of his friends and became much more of a private person. He was also dedicated to the physical arts and would do nothing but training all day. He also harbored a hatred of Bermans until befriending Argus Verze. After the Castle Dacre incident, he started become more of a father figure to Mary and the two held a more pleasant relationship, bordering love but never quite there. During his time as general, he was constantly sleepless at the thought of leading and sending young men to their deaths as had been done to him years ago.